The Crystal Ball

Technical communication in India could be an analytical topic today to talk about as to where the caravan is moving in terms of its past beginning, present strength and the future prospect. It is hard to collate the information about the beginning of this skilled profession on the yardsticks of its maturity and prevalence in terms of numbers of years in India. Subsequently, tracking the information about the industry which had the privilege to employ the technical communicator first into its fold, is another tough job.

However, notably the present scenario entails a lot about where the large chunks of technical communicators are employed today. They are mostly part of the documentation division of Information Technology industry in India. The seer number is quite difficult to arrive at because the employment ratio of software developer, tester and technical writer is not computed. In absence of that varying data, approximation helps, which gauge the range in between 4000 to 5000. Looking at the size of the industry, the future suggests that the number is bound to grow. Specifically Indian technical writers proving their metal that they can do exactly the same what developers and tester have done so far in terms of producing cost effective quality work. But it is not as easy as writing the piece of code, or testing the functionality of an application, that too in a foreign language. It is really a very difficult proposition and technical communication in India by far is in nascent stage to analyze correctly.

But if we look at the crowd, the substantial increase in the number of technical communicator hired and employed today, this profession looks very promising. As per my personal assessment goes, the technical documentation especially in India have been the complementary shoot of its parent company abroad which houses native English language technical writers. The obvious option as choice for Indian technical communicator is not yet ascertain.

Although, how do Indian technical writers fare on the parameter of quality of writing, is still in the phase of black box testing. The IT industry presently faces the dearth of technical writers and aspirant from writing or non-writing background are trying their luck to break into this profession. Experience in technical writing is another question, about which many falter, boast and try to override others. Many who boast more number of years spent in technical communication can not truly claim to be a better technical writer. Similarly less experienced communicator can not be under rated in terms of quality of writing. Technical communication is more of personal skilled area than a trained profession. The reason is, you can teach a person how to write codes in java in a year or two but writing good English takes years of toil. And, probably, writers can neither be created, nor be made, they just happened to be writers.

The crux is, technical communication in India would definitely have edge if true writers are willing to make it their career. Today, many sinners are in the garb of seers and separating them from the real seer would take some time as the profession grows and matures.

Above all, at the time when IT is facing the challenge of speculating faults from other industry and trying to contain, it’s testing time even for technical communication in India, which is directly proportional to the growth of the IT industry. How you look at the crystal ball today is the perspective defined and the brightness of ball would be the reflection of the light it receives